Not having a physical voice

     Not having a physical voice can be a blessing, since I often wish to express my thoughts immediately. If I spoke openly, I'd likely have enemies because I'm honest. When I'm writing what I want to say, I have time to think about my words than letting the words flow out of my mouth.
     Let me share why my voice has been affected by CP. Not everybody with CP has voice issues. Here's why some of voices are impact CP. CP prevents speech primarily due to dysarthria, a motor speech disorder from brain damage affecting muscles for breathing, voice, and mouth control (lips, tongue, vocal cords), making speech slurred, slow, or impossible; also, some individuals have co-occurring language disorders like apraxia (difficulty forming sounds) or cognitive issues, and hearing loss can also play a role, all stemming from the initial brain injury affecting motor planning and control.
     Like I said, communication is hard for me, but people will try to work with me until I get my point across. People are surprised when they can understand me when they stay around me for a while. It amazed me when they said, “I can understand you!"
     Yes, I get upset, and I don’t like people to see me like that. It is very hard to control myself when I have said something ten times in my mind, but it won’t come out right. If people don’t understand me, and I need help, I’ll let my body language speak. I will try to point out what I’m saying or grab people to take them to show them what I’m trying to say. If I see somebody needs, I yell and point.
     Mom said I have different sounds. She knew the difference between laughing from hurting. My parents used to know most things what I was saying but not all the time. With Mom, I used to air spell letters, and she wrote it down to see what I was saying. My parents said that they could understand me over the phone better than in person.
     When I go to a doctor, I will type everything and print it out for them so it will go faster than having to explain things on the spot. I tend to feel anxious and worry about wasting time when I have to explain things spontaneously.